ITHACA, N.Y. – Ithaca's Marc Chasin and Sam Bevan combined for 49 points as the Bombers pulled away in the second half for an 83-74 win over Cortland in a non-league men's basketball game. Ithaca improved to 4-1, while the Red Dragons suffered their first loss and are now 3-1.
Chasin finished with 27 points, eight rebounds and three assists. He made 11-of-17 shots, 3-of-6 from the 3-point arc. Bevan nearly recorded a triple-double with 22 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. He hit 11-of-13 free throws. Carroll Rich added 11 points, Joey Flanagan scored nine points and Peter Ezema totaled eight points and a team-high nine rebounds as Ithaca's starting five accounted for 77 of the team's 83 points.
Blair Estarfaa (Buffalo/Maryvale) led Cortland with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting. He made three 3-pointers in seven tries. Grequan Carter (Queens/Campus Magnet) scored 10 points and dished out a team-best four assists, while Justin Cooper (Pine Plains/Stissing Mountain) and JP Reagan (Cortland) each scored eight points. Cooper led the team with eight rebounds and Shayne Martinez (West Haverstraw/North Rockland) finished with four steals.
Cortland jumped out to a 22-7 lead less than eight minutes into the game. Estarfaa scored 13 points during that stretch, including all three of his 3-pointers. The Red Dragons still held a 15-point lead at 34-19 on a Carter trey with 5:47 left in the half, but Ithaca clawed back and eventually reduced its deficit to six at halftime, 44-38, on a Bevan layup with four seconds left.
Ithaca tied the game twice in the first three minutes of the second half, but Cortland opened a 52-46 lead with 15:46 left. Zach Lydon (Elizaville/Stissing Mountain) hit a short, twisting baseline jumper after a steal and was fouled, but was hurt on the play and missed the remainder of the game. Carrel Joseph (Port-au-Prince, Haiti/Deer Park (NY)) made the free throw to complete the 3-point play.
The hosts eventually tied the game again at 56-56 on a James VanDeventer 3-pointer with 10:29 left, and the Bombers took their first lead of the night at 58-57 on a Bevan layup with 9:42 remaining. Cortland took its final lead, 61-59, on a T.J. Hefele (Greenlawn/Friends Academy) layup with 7:56 left.
Leading by two, Ithaca scored eight straight points from the 5:46 to 4:34 mark to take a 73-63 lead. Chasin made two 3-pointers during that run. Cortland closed back to within five after Hefele hit a layup with 1:59 left but got no closer.
Ithaca shot 49 percent from the floor and 80 percent (20-for-25) from the foul line. The Bombers made 7-of-22 long-distance attempts. Cortland finished at 39 percent from the field, 32 percent in the second half, and was 5-of-26 (19 percent) from the arc and 13-of-19 (68 percent) from the foul line.
Cortland opens SUNYAC play this weekend with games at Buffalo State on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Fredonia on Saturday at 4 p.m.